CNET,
VentureBeat, CNBC.com, and
FT (and likely others) have articles on a new cloud computing gaming service
called OnLive after
Variety posted a story in advance of the unveiling of the service today. The
service is the brainchild of entrepreneur Steve Perlman (QuickTime, WebTV) and
has the backing of Warner Bros' WBIE. All the stories on the topic portray this
as a potentially serious competitor in the home gaming scene, offering the
ability to stream AAA quality games to any system without wait times, and if it
works as planned, it does sound like it could significantly change the games
market. Here's a summary from CNBC:

OnLive
includes a tiny set-top box Perlman calls the "MicroConsole" that links the
internet and the company's service to your TV, as long as your part of the
country (that's the 70 percent part) has a broadband connection. Any laptop with
a wi-fi, other wireless or network connection won't need the box.

Once you're linked to the subscription based service, you'll have access to game
titles from Warner Bros., Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Electronic Arts, Eidos,
Atari and a host of other top publishers who will all be announcing partnerships
with the new service. Games can be accessed through the web, either bought or
rented, and played by just a few participants, or players can play against
thousands. There are no downloads, the games will live on OnLive's servers. It's
an application of so-called "cloud computing" that the industry really hasn't
seen before.

But here's the rub, and why Perlman tells me the days of the traditional console
might be dwindling: Because the games live on servers and aren't downloaded, it
won't matter what console you need, or what platform the games were developed
for. They'll simply work on any TV, PC or Mac.

"When you watch a movie on TV, you don't think about what it was developed for,
it just works," Perlman tells me. The same will be said of video games. And
players will be able to access the games at a fraction of the cost of today's
experience. Says Perlman, "Some consoles cost $300 or $400 or $500. Even more in
some cases. So now, instead of spending all that money on a console, they can
spend it on the games instead. Doesn't that sound more fun?"

He might have something here. While only a couple of dozen titles will be
available when the service officially launches later this year, Perlman easily
envisions entire libraries of titles available instantly with a simple click.

The games, their graphics -- no matter how complex -- will go directly to TV or
computer through compression technology Perlman and his team have been slaving
over for the past seven years. Publishers love the idea because there's
virtually no chance of pirating the games on the service they're stored on the
company's secure servers.

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This might work for certain types of games. Diablo. Won't work for FPS games, screen picture changes too much in response to user input.

If you already have users paying for expensive hardware, why would the publisher want to start paying for it? Think the monthly fee would be high. Streaming a game might have a market niche. I'm not interested in paying monthly for a laggy experience playing old out of date games. Might get some to bite. Just not me.